So if you can make it through, you know you've got something good, you can handle anything. We've been blessed to grow but at the same time, the hard part is having to wear every single hat. It's exhausting, but it's entirely worth it because on the flip side, the best part about being a touring musician is being a touring musician.

Lizzo

Categorized in : Sides Blessed Flip

So when it comes to being a role model to women, I think it's because of the way that I feel about myself, and the way that I treat myself. I am a woman, I treat myself with respect and I love myself, and I think that if I'm holding myself to a certain esteem and keeping it real with myself, then that's going to translate to people like me.

Lizzo

real people thinking

Just about anybody is a big girl in a small world but you gotta believe it on the inside, that you can be bigger than the rest of it.

Lizzo

girl believe world

You know what I want, above all things? I want people who are aware of my music right now, to believe in change.

Lizzo

want believe people

So every time I rap about being a big girl in a small world it's doing a couple things: it's empowering my self-awareness, my body image, and it's also making the statement that we are all bigger than this, we're a part of something bigger than this, and we should live in each moment knowing that.

Lizzo

rap girl couple

But millions at one time, beyond gender or race, had their attention fixed on her, and with that power, she chose to flash the word "feminist" all over our TV screens. If that don't do nothin' but make people Google the word, then that should make every feminist in the world proud.

Lizzo

feminist race people

There's really educated women out there who are feminists and they have read up on their stuff. They can talk to me right now, and school me on some things I've never known, and that's amazing, you are a scholar, you are wise, you are educated. But the unfortunate thing is also the reality, and the fact is, millions of people might not even know who these educated feminists are - hundreds will, thousands maybe.

Lizzo

wise reality school

When I was born, my father named me Melissa, and I am still Melissa but I got the nickname Lizzo around the time I was in the Cornrow Clique. I'm from Houston, so naturally, everyone dropped the second syllable of your name and just put an "O" there.

Lizzo

houston names father

Generally, it's all of this subconscious stuff. I didn't even know what Lizzobangers was about until it was mastered and I got to listen to it.

Lizzo

subconscious knows stuff

When I first saw Destiny's Child, I was in the fifth grade, and it made me want to sing and make music and there would be these freestyles on the radio for what seemed like hours, it was just so cool to me. So all of these influences and these styles started to blend together. Eventually, that evolved into me finding the indie scene in Houston. When I was 19, I joined a rock band, and that's when I began to say, "Okay, this is something that I could take seriously."

Lizzo

rocks destiny children

I'm going to make music that reflects me and my life now. So I think people who like my music and who listen to me should appreciate change as well, because I've definitely evolved, and that's a great thing, to celebrate that is what music is all about.

Lizzo

appreciate people thinking

Everyone looks to an artist for something more than just the music, and that message of being comfortable in my own skin is number one for me.

Lizzo

skin me my-own music

I don't look to celebrities for style anymore because I've learned the chain of command. They are being dressed by a stylist who's getting inspiration from a 16-year-old kid running the streets of Melbourne, Australia. Once I learned that chain of command, I just started taking it to the streets.

Lizzo

look style australia inspiration

My mother and father taught me about black excellence and dynasty. They experienced racism personally, and when something like that happens to you and not around you, you develop a different perception than someone who has never experienced racism a day in their lives.

Lizzo

day me racism mother

I work on myself daily to be a better person. When I react in a negative way to somebody, I sit back and think about why I did it, so I'm always working on myself, and my music is the same.

Lizzo

daily myself music work

If you are confident in yourself and however you want yourself to be presented, and you're doing well and doing it because you want to do it and not because someone is pressuring you, then more power to you.

Lizzo

yourself someone you power

My formative years were in Houston. I was in middle school, and everyone was dropping the last half of their names and adding an 'o' to the end. My little crew that I had, we were an all-female rap group, and everyone had an 'o' at the end of their name. I was Lisso. Then this dude started getting lazy with it, saying Lizzo.

Lizzo

name saying end school

The fight still isn't people of colour versus white. It's the people versus the system built to keep us down. That's the first line of the Constitution. And the system is manmade but is made of no man. Everyone, regardless of class, creed, culture and ethnicity can fight the system and help to break it down.

Lizzo

fight man culture people

I spent a lot of time star-gazing, writing, and learning languages when the other kids were doing cooler things in Detroit.

Lizzo

doing learning writing time

I'm glad I'm a woman; I'm glad I'm a rapper because I get to speak to these people who did not get spoken for in this genre.

Lizzo

woman rapper speak people

When we're on stage doing a song about positive body image or another about female empowerment, everyone out there is super into it and right there with us. It's been awesome. I feel like we fit right in.

Lizzo

feel body song positive